Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Coquette by Hannah Webster Foster

I found this book to be both like and unlike Samuel Richardson's Clarissa. Although both are novels designed around the seduction of a young girl, this one makes the socially acceptable choice more (although not completely) personally acceptable to the heroine. Also, while Clarissa maintains control of her story even after her seduction by elaborately staging her death, after Eliza loses her innocence, we only see two more letters from her. Like Clarissa, Eliza's problem is that she desires independence, not that she's initially not virtuous. Clarissa, though, has more desire for financial independence, where Eliza really values personal and social independence. There are hints that a society of women would be agreeable to Eliza, but these hints are fairly submerged. Finally, there's an underlying theme of parental disappointment in children.

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